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Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Yankees Drop Series Opener To Sub-.500 Astros

Part of the beauty of baseball is that any team has a legitimate chance to win on any given night. But, for the Yankees, that team cannot be the Houston Astros. Not when they are clinging to just a 5% chance of making the playoffs. What happened last night simply cannot happen for a team trying to play into October.

On Tuesday night I wanted a little more than just a win. I wanted a little revenge, some payback against the 52-73 Houston Astros. Not only did I want it but, I fully expected it. I expected the Yankees to assert themselves, to show the Houston Astros that, regardless of who predicts they'll win it all in 2017, no matter that they avoid their fourth 100 loss season in a row in 2014, this is the New York Yankees they were facing and they would pay for their early season hubris.

After all, the Astros were the team that, early on, shattered any thought that this Yankees team would coast through the season. At the time it seemed like a minor hiccup, an embarrassing opening series loss against a team that everyone predicted would be terrible. Nothing to worry about, just a slow start for the Yankees.

One hundred and twenty one games later it’s clear that it was something to worry about. The Yankees team that couldn’t seem to get much traction in that opening series is still struggling to get to and remain over .500.

Still, with the Yankees playing at home, it seemed like the perfect time for them to reverse their fortunes against the team that had started them down the road of this frustrating season. Instead the Yankees continued their perplexing play.

Fans that are tired of hearing about “good ABs” and “hits stolen by the shift” and “first year adjustments.” Tired of not only watching the team lose, but watching them do it in such a lackluster and sloppy fashion.

I repeat: This. Cannot. Happen. These are the Astros. They did their winning in April. The Yankees need to do their winning right now.